In the breeding field, the control of reproduction is a considerable challenge, with a view to optimizing the availability of products, such as meat, milk or its derivatives, throughout the year. For example, the breeding of members of the ovine race and of the goat family is subjected to strong seasonal variations in productivity, owing to the seasonal nature of the reproduction and the course of lactation. The methods used at the current time for inducing ovulation at any time out of season and/or for synchronizing ovulation within herds and flocks rely on the use of steroid hormones, such as progesterone or estradiol, of prostaglandin F2a and of PMSG (Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin). These methods do not, however, allow complete control of ovulation. In addition, the estrogen-type hormones used are pollutants which are not readily degraded, which accumulate in soil and water, and which present a threat to human health. The treatment of animals with such hormones also has considerable constraints for breeders, who are obliged to adhere to very strict specifications. By way of example, the methods used at the current time for inducing ovulation in ewes provide for the implantation, for 12 to 24 days, of a vaginal sponge containing progesterone, combined with a co-treatment with an intramuscular injection of PMSG serum gonadotropin at the time of withdrawal of the sponge. Such a treatment proves to be restricting to carry out.
In human clinical practice, the treatments available at the current time for medically assisted procreation have, for their part, certain undesirable side effects, such as ovarian hyperstimulation. These treatments also use hormones to induce ovulation, and therefore act either on the pituitary gland or on the gonads. The same is true for treatments intended to treat hypothalamic amenorrhea or delayed puberty.
There thus remains a need for alternative treatments, using a nonsteroidal molecule capable of triggering/synchronizing ovulation both in ruminants, so as to be able to program their reproduction and their milk production throughout the year, to improve artificial insemination yields, to optimize the profitability of herds and flocks, and to reduce infertility problems in herds and flocks, and in humans, for inducing gonadotropin release more naturally than the current hormonal treatments, thus reducing the risks of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
The present invention aims to remedy the drawbacks of the treatments proposed by the prior art for inducing/synchronizing ovulation in female mammals, in particular those set out above, by providing a nonsteroidal compound which makes it possible to carry out such an ovulation induction/synchronization efficiently, and which exhibits low persistence in the environment, and reduced use constraints.